Jean Renoir’s 1938 film La règle du jeu is today widely recognised as one of the greatest films ever made. Now restored in 4K by La Cinémathèque française and Les Grands Films Classiques, it is released by the BFI on Blu-ray on 29 May with extras including a newly commissioned commentary by film writers David Jenkins and Trevor Johnston, a selection of complementary archival films and more.

On the surface, Renoir’s brilliant satire is a series of interlinked romantic intrigues that take place during a weekend shooting party in a country château. But the film is actually a study of the corruption and decay at the top of French society on the eve of the Second World War. At the time, it was denigrated by the public, vilified by the critics, re-cut at the insistence of its producers and ultimately banned by the French government as demoralising and unpatriotic.

La règle du jeu will be released on Blu-ray, iTunes and Amazon Prime by the BFI on 29 May 2023 at the RRP of £19.99 for the Blu-ray edition.

BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• Restored in 4K in 2021 by La Cinémathèque française and Les Grands Films Classiques, and presented on Blu-ray
• Newly commissioned commentary by film writers David Jenkins and Trevor Johnston
• Image par image: La Règle du jeu (1987, 43 mins): Jean Douchet and Pierre Oscar Lévy provide a detailed analysis of La Règle du jeu
• Leslie Caron on La Règle du jeu (2016, 18 mins): the actor introduces Renoir’s classic as part of the Screen Epiphanies series at BFI Southbank
• La Vie est à nous (1936, 64 mins): French Communist Party election film depicting political turmoil and the threat of fascism, with creative input from Jean Renoir and Henri Cartier-Bresson, among others
• Pheasant Shooting (1913, 1 min): newsreel item on the start of the shooting season in a Norfolk game reserve
• Society on the Moors (1921, 1 min): newsreel footage of Lord and Lady Savile’s shooting party on the Yorkshire Moors near Hebden Bridge
• Stills gallery
• First pressing only – illustrated booklet with a new essay by David Thompson and an essay by Ginette Vincendeau originally published in Sight and Sound; notes on the special features and credits

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